Contractors suffered from a new round of price increases for key materials in May but were largely unable to pass their costs along to customers, according to an analysis of producer price index figures released Tuesday by AGC.

“Reports from the 12 Federal Reserve districts indicated that economic activity generally continued to expand since the last report, though a few districts indicated some deceleration,” the Fed reported on Wednesday in the latest Beige Book, a summary of informal soundings of businesses in the districts, which are referred to by their headquarters cities.

In May, seasonally adjusted “nonfarm payroll employment changed little (+54,000), following increases that averaged 220,000 in the prior 3 months,” the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported on Friday.

Construction spending inched up for the second straight month in April, 0.4 percent– following downward revisions to the March spending figures – thanks to increases in private nonresidential and home-improvement spending, AGC reported Wednesday in an analysis of new Census Bureau data. 

After a five-year slide in construction spending, it is tempting to believe that the industry will be “back to normal” sometime in the next five years. But it’s more likely some segments will never match their  peaks of the last decade, whereas other categories will far exceed past levels.

Construction employment declined between April 2010 and April 2011 in 179 out of 337 metropolitan areas (including divisions of larger metros) for which the Bureau of Labor Statistics provides data, increased in 114 and stayed level in 44, according to an analysis AGC released on Thursday.

Seasonally adjusted nonfarm payroll employment increased in 42 states and the District of Columbia from March to April and decreased in eight states, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported on Friday.

The producer price index (PPI) for finished goods climbed 1.2% in April, not seasonally adjusted (0.8%, seasonally adjusted), and 6.8% since April 2010, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported on Thursday.

Nonfarm payroll employment rose by 244,000, seasonally adjusted, in April, and by 1,313,000 (1.0%) since April 2010, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported today. Construction employment inched up by 5,000 to 5,524,000, the third straight monthly gain in a yearlong pattern of small changes that have left employment 42,000 (0.8%) lower than a year ago and 2,200,000 (29%) below the record set in April 2006. The unemployment rate in construction was 17.8% in April, not seasonally adjusted, down from 21.8% in April 2010 but higher than any other industry and double the all-worker rate of 8.7% (9.0%, seasonally adjusted; BLS does not adjust industry unemployment rates). Among the five BLS industry segments, only heavy and civil engineering construction employment rose, by 12,700 for the month and 21,300 (2.6%) over 12 months, probably reflecting the high level of stimulus, military base realignment and flood prevention projects under way. Employment among nonresidential specialty trade contractors shrank by 1,500 for the month and 3,200 (-0.2%) year-over-year; nonresidential building, -1,200 and -10,200 (-1.5%); residential specialty trades, -3,300 and -31,900 (-2.2%); and residential building, -2,100 and -18,400 (-3.2%). Architectural and engineering services employment, a harbinger of future demand for construction, posted its sixth gain in a row, rising 5,600 for the month and 19,700 (1.5%) year-over-year. Average hourly earnings for all workers in construction rose 4 cents in April to $25.42, up 30 cents (1.2%) from April 2010. Earnings for all private-sector workers averaged $22.95, up 43 cents (1.9%).“Most domestic banks reported no change in their standards for approving CRE [commercial real estate] loans; however, a few large banks and foreign banks reportedly eased such standards somewhat,” the Federal Reserve reported on Monday in summarizing its latest quarterly survey of senior loan officers at 55 U.S. banks and 22 U.S. branches and agencies of foreign banks. “About 35% of domestic banks reported having seen increased demand for CRE loans—the strongest reading since the mid-1990s. The banks that indicated an increase in demand were almost all large domestic banks. Other domestic and foreign banks reported little change in demand for CRE loans on net.” The Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday, “J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. has about $5 billion in [CRE] loans in the pipeline, about $1 billion of which is new construction. That is a threefold increase from its pipeline 12 to 18 months ago, bank officials say, a turnaround from recent years when the bank all but stopped originating commercial real-estate loans.” The article also cites Wells Fargo & Co. and Deutsche Bank AG as having increased CRE loans, but “banks shedding such assets include [Bank of America Corp.], Huntington Bancshares Inc., KeyCorp and SunTrust Banks Inc.”New orders from U.S. manufacturers (excluding semiconductor manufacturing) climbed 3.0%, seasonally adjusted, in March, the fifth straight monthly increase, the Census Bureau reported on Tuesday. Orders in the first three months of 2011 combined totaled 11.5% more than in January-March 2010. Orders for construction materials and supplies rose 0.4% in March and 4.5% year-to-date. Orders for construction machinery fell 2.4% in March but rose 76% year-to-date. “The dramatic shift in power center construction (since 2009, close to 10 centers have been built per quarter [vs. 60 per quarter before the recession]) is expected to continue into 2012,” CBRE Econometric Advisors (CBRE-EA) reported on April 25. “As defined by [the International Council of Shopping Centers], ‘power center’ is the largest format for U.S. shopping centers, and they have an average square footage of over 400,000 square feet….New store development strategies from big box/power center retailers are supporting this shift in power center development with smaller store designs….Best Buy, Staples and Office Depot have announced smaller store formats in their development plans for the near future; this trend is showing up in our CBRE-EA/Dodge Pipeline….Across these three retailers there is a definite downward trend in [average store square footage in] 2011, particularly compared to what was delivered before the economic crisis began. Even Wal-Mart, the largest retailer in the U.S., is showing signs of downsizing its square footage as well; compared to 2008, its average store square footage has gone from 166,000 to just over 115,000.” “Federal contract spending [of all types, not just construction] next year will remain flat or even decline slightly, according to a forecast by market research group FedSources,” Federal Times reported on April 27. “In fiscal year 2010, the government spent about $773 billion for contracted work. President Obama's 2012 budget includes $752 billion for contracted programs, about a 1% drop, FedSources Senior Vice President Ray Bjorklund said Wednesday during the group's 26th annual Federal Outlook. But if Congress passes deeper cuts, as some are proposing, contracting dollars could drop as much as 5%, down to $698 billion, he said. Bjorklund said he expects to see cuts in building restoration programs, border patrol construction and combat vehicle development. The Obama administration has also requested cuts in Army Corps of Engineers resource management projects, but Congress is showing signs of restoring much of that funding, particularly since recent flooding in the Midwest has shown the need for those services, he said. Contractors could see more opportunities to win work in support of student aid and disaster loan programs, construction of Army family housing units and professional services needed for financial institution oversight.”

Construction spending totaled $769 billion at a seasonally adjusted annual rate in March, an increase of 1.4% from the downwardly revised February total but 6.7% below the March 2010 level, the Census Bureau reported today.